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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/4/2007 10:31:50 PM | Posted By: davood on 8/1/2007 10 13 AM
meat is tasty... and its perfectly natural for animals to prey on each other.. however, it would be nice to not have to farm + kill animals (this really bothered me when I was a kid, as I had alot of pets). imagine if we could grow meat artificially.. that would rock. But it isn't going to happen anytime soon.
I always ask my vegetarian friensd/aquantances what they would do if we could grow meat artificially.. they always try and change the topic. or tell me it will never happen. but they refuse to give me a yes/no answer hahah.. cowards !!!!!!!!!
Actually, scientists are already working on ways to grow "in vitro", "cultured", or "artificial" meat. The basic idea is to take some muscle, fat, and whatever cells you need, find an appropriate medium to grow them in, and you can start with a single set of cells and produce as many as you want. Some of the studies are being funded by NASA for possible use on long duration spaceflights (e.g. to and/or on the moon and Mars).
It is a ways from commercialization, but I'd be willing to wager most of my money that we'll see it available by 2050, maybe even 2025 or sooner. The "pace of progress" is, after all, accelerating. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/5/2007 2:00:55 AM | In many ways, we are all about meat (at least I am... Ladies. Giggity goo). Its no accident that the most intelligent animals are near the top of the food chain. The absorbtion of animal proteins is vital to the development of a brain capable of higher thought. What gave mankind an edge is that we learned to harness fire and cook our meat... allowing us to absorb proteins more efficiently.
As for the morality of eating animals- I submit to you that morality is a product of one's socio-economic conditions. If you don't agree, then please tell me what crop you expect the Inuit to plant in their vast plantations above the Arctic Circle? I further submit to you that most die-hard vegans, when dropped off outside Iqaluit in January wearing only a t-shirt and jeans, would take less than an hour to find someone and beat the crap out of them for their seal-skin parka. The rest would just die.
Remember folks, there's a fine line between standing up for animal rights and being just another white person telling the wogs of the world how to run the show. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/5/2007 9:21:00 AM | I find it odd that science needs to develop a pill that has the vitamins and minerals one would derive from meat - isn't that a form of "proof" that it's ok to eat meat?
After all, without eating meat, we wouldn't be where we are. I believe some animals that need to hunt need to develop strategy in order to catch which means they need to develop intelligence surpassing it's prey. I've pondered the difference between "how we got here" versus "is it wrong to take a life?" | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/5/2007 9:38:48 AM | | Honey, they raise and slaughter animals because people like you do eat meat....... If you became vegetarian you'd save a lot of animal lives. Especially smaller animals like birds. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/5/2007 4:33:28 PM | ubunti, my ancestors caught meat and killed it. They used to gather berries but they now harvest and grow those, as well.
Our own diet's are made to eat meat, hence the reason vegetarians need to supplement so much. Iron deficiencies, Vitamin B/D deficiencies, various minerals, Protein, Amino acids. Without science providing these in pill form, where would you be?
The way of mother nature basks in the idea that a "food chain" exists. In terms of eating other life forms, plants are, in fact, alive. They may not have a brain but does that mean they are not living? They come into life ("birth"), consume (food), they breath, they grow, they die. What is your definition of life? Is it construed to fit your belief?
I'm a strong practitioner of Buddhism but one area I strongly question is the eating of other life. In essence, fruits and vegetables are living things - they are basically the eggs of the plant life.
If cows were not in our care, some other animal would eat them. Antelope are consumed by lions, monkeys eat meat, sharks eat fish, even if we didn't. Is it because we are self-aware that we not take life? I argue that without meat, we wouldn't BE "self-aware" in the first place. Is this a case of realizing a mistake and changing it? Who commands such a thing, a god, the universe? If so, why would it allow for so many animals to be eaten just to have one animal (human) realize it's wrong, only after it had consumed so many? | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/8/2007 11:11:41 AM | | On the menu today in Shanghai was rat, civet (sort of cat), and dog... | |
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Mr H2O
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Joined: 10/31/2006
Msg: 32 | |
| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/10/2007 12:48:25 PM | Cat is called Roof Rabbit by some for the carcass once skinned looks similiar.
Pidgeon is called City Chicken and there are dozens of other examples.
Primitive people kill whatever game was readily available .
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated.
The list of animals that can be eaten is immense and literally covers A - Z in the alphabet.
Far too many people don't have a clue about killing an animal and eating it.
They would starve to death in a forest or near a lake instead of eating the animals.
If it isn't pre-packaged on a styrofoam plate with plastic wrap or frozen solid
they wouldn't dream of eating it.
Eating Raw meat like beef tartar is an almost taboo subject in most modern kitchens.
Try going to a farmers market and get fresh-killed chicken where they hand it to
you still warm from the blood that ran thru it's veins.
All your friends will say it's the best BBQ they've ever eaten.
It's all very odd for a population that lives on violence in video games, television and movies. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/11/2007 4:10:37 PM |
If you became vegetarian you'd save a lot of animal lives. Especially smaller animals like birds.
This might be true for fish but if everyone turned vegetarian the very first thing that happens will be millions of cows/pigs/deer get slaughtered.
I eat meat. It doesn't please me to think of how it is killed and there are various meats I won't eat for that very reason.
Male lions rarely kill anything, perhaps they should become vegetarian too;) | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/11/2007 7:35:12 PM | The simplest answer is that, because we in the Western world keep them as pets, we regard cats and dogs as "more human" than other animals. Because they are more human, they are more closely related to us and therefore should be protected, in our minds. It's an evolutionary side effect of the same instinct that (very importantly) causes humans in tribal situations to protect their fellow tribesmen, and the same effect that makes us disgusted at cannibalism.
We keep them as pets because we find them cute, yes - which we do because they in one way or another (in appearance or behavior) resemble desireable aspects of a human child, like curiosity. Curiosity saved the cats. :) | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/12/2007 8:50:06 AM | People eat meat because its readily available, brainwashed into our heads as a child as thought of as a nesccesityas part of our culture. I choose not to eat the rotting flesh of dead animals, I dont believe it nesessary in my situation to do so. However I do allow my children to eat meat, as well as cook it for them. They can / will make their own decisions as they grow wheather this is what they want to do in their own lives. I love animals, but also realize this is not a war of my own to fight, nor win.
Animals provide us with more then meat, clothing,shoes, smores, jewelery etc.
I have no problems with the consumption or raising of animals for these purposes, but do have concerns with the sport hunting etc. We all all animals & the laws of nature are to kill or be killed for the most part. Sad yet true. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/12/2007 11:23:02 AM | The only logical reason i can think of is that people think it to be food so they eat it. I've been vegan off and on now for about 5 years i think. I still eat eggs but I don't eat meat at all. The longer i don't eat it, it becomes more disturbing that others do. I didn't choose to be vegan for ethical reasons and thought those militant vegans simply didn't get it. However I can see now. especially here in the UK with all the outbreaks of foot and mouth, mad cow, bird flue etc... going on.
These poor animals have no control over the out come of their lives or what they eat. they are fed animal byproducts and they are vegan themselves... We are simply conditioned to see other species as food. And i can clearly see it now that i don't eat meat. People clearly put more value on animals that feed their other needs such as cats and dogs merely because it serves them to do so. I can see the moral issues a lot clearer now that i'm removed from treating my body as a grave yard.
crazylilting | |
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Mr H2O
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Joined: 10/31/2006
Msg: 37 | |
| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/12/2007 11:35:26 AM | Funny how primitive cultures still hunt for monkeys, peccaries, etc. and I doubt
anybody brainwashed them in the backwoods of some jungle rainforest.
It's not exactly like they have supermarkets of the stuff
- they still have to run thru the jungle, expenditing valuable energy chasing the game
in order to kill it and bring it back to the village.
They were relatively healthy until white men intruders like meddling missionaries
came with new diseases for which the natives had no resistance.
It's not a matter of right or wrong with various cultures/societies
- it's just different. We need to respect that and leave it alone. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/12/2007 1:55:46 PM | Mr H20
I agree with you, in cultures where it is a the law of nature is still to eat or be eaten, then this is where the world should not judge. But in our culture of mass production & growth hormones, well nature is all that more tainted, not the same at all. | |
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Mr H2O
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Joined: 10/31/2006
Msg: 39 | |
| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/12/2007 7:40:40 PM | I firmly believe in supporting my local farmers market.
The stuff is super fresh, tastes better, and it's not messed around with.
Sure the berries are smaller , the chickens are smaller, etc. but they're a bit more natural.
Grass-fed beef is a leaner meat; fat tends to form around the muscle.
With conventional corn-fed beef, the fat streaks the muscle in marble-like patterns.
The agricultural department's organic standard requires that animals
have unspecified access to the outdoors, and big organic dairy operations
have been accused of exploiting the broad language to keep cows confined in barns.
People still need to be wary of what a "label" says or means though :
The Agriculture Department has proposed a standard for grass-fed meat
that doesn't say animals need pasture and that broadly defines grass
to include things like leftovers from harvested crops.
Each year, Michigan exports agricultural commodities valued
at nearly $2 billion, ranking Michigan sixth in the nation for agricultural exports.
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/13/2007 2:46:43 AM | Its funny how the perpetrators will ask for mutual respect... H20. Choosing to eat meat is simply that, a choice, and a long with that choice is the responsibility and accountability for the environmental degradation, mistreatment of animals unethical use of hormones and additives to make the meat more valuable and the health risks that result from it. Being ignorant of how ones food is produced and or issues that result from it is no excuse. My hands are no cleaner then the next and ate meat for many years. I also smoked which has its own environmental and ethical problems.
The amount of land necessary to support a meat-eater for one year is 3.25 acres. If Americans decreased their addiction to meat by 10%, the grain saved from feeding these animals would be enough to feed the 60 million people who die from hunger each year. A vegetarian's demand on land about .5 acres. Its interesting that we feed animals 6 tonnes to get 1 tonne of dead animal carcases. Not only that but the sheer weight of animals for food production has began to outweigh the human population and produces more greenhouse gases then all the automobiles combined!!! This is only the tip of the ice berg for problems that are directly related to meat eating.
There are not enough of us vegans to counteract the degradation of meat eating species of our type. There are some organizations one can donate to that will save our rainforest's etc... but its clear from other posters here that ignorance personal freedom flexing is more important then our very own survival. Its only natural for more educated people to want to express their concerns for our environment and the survival of the human race. It falls on the deadened ears and hearts of those who know very little about living and are merely here to consume what ever they can at what ever cost to the rest of the world. Very sad...
crazylilting | |
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Mr H2O
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Joined: 10/31/2006
Msg: 42 | |
| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/13/2007 9:27:59 AM | We would never have evolved as large, socially active hominids
if we hadn't turned to meat claim anthropologists .
Vegetarian primates (orangutans and gorillas) are less social than the more omnivorous chimpanzees
because collecting and consuming all that forage takes so darned much time.
Early hominids took a bold leap: 2.5 million years ago,
they were cracking animal bones to eat the marrow.
They ate the protein-rich muscle tissue and the rest of the animal
—liver, marrow, brains—with their high concentrations of other nutrients.
Evolving humans ate it all - nowadays people just want steaks and that's a problem.
This diet of meat and glucose gave early man energy to burn
—socialize, to make culture, art, war, etc.
NOW once we've evolved our master agriculture and trade sophisticated system
- modern humans can easily go vegetarian.
Say thank you to your meat eating ancestors. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 12:46:27 PM | | You simply need to broaden your horizons.In China and Korea they eat both dog and cat.Here we chose not to because of the affiliation w/ them as part of our "family".However I can't see how people aren't supposed to eat meat.look at our teeth,we are omnivores meaning eating anything edible. Not to mention eating some meat(not a 2 lb. burger) is necessary for muscle repair and retention and to replace nutrients our bodies cannot replace or manufacture on there own. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 12:54:00 PM | What a moral dilemma we have here.We are all suppsed to eat plant matter,hmmm.I wonder doesn't the plant have a right to life too? I feel that todays methods for farming are cruel and inhumane...I honestly do.Just like a good hunter is taught to kill humanely.Sad matter of fact is simce more humans are born every year....they have to eat and since we live in a non hunter gatherer society what to do.
I tried vegetarianism for two yrs. and I lost over 12 lbs. and was unhealthy! I was eating protien in other forms and eating like a horse,yet I still lost a lot of muscle and down to 150 at 5-10,I looked and felt like crap. As soon as I started eating small portions of meat,my health and size returned. I beleive meat is necessary,gross over eating nor cruelty is! | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:10:10 PM | | You would have a problem if you saw production line style slaughter houses.Yet you think hunting is cruel? I don't hunt for sport....That can be cruel,however i would hunt to LIVE .....AND I would respect the animal I was taking the life of to sustain my own or my families lives. The laws of nature are not sad....We as modern day humans are to detached from them so they seem foreign.Look to the native american Indian.They understand the laws of nature well and hold ALL life in great reverence,however they also understand the paradox and know they must kill to eat,same as all other creatures.Just because we live in modern society doesn't exempt us from the laws of nature.If you think so....than try swimming in waters w/ great whites,tigers,lemons or other man eating sharks.You might find out real quick that we are still on the food chain! | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:44:39 PM | | I agree that the methods used today w/ the hormones and non-organic methods and the cruelty as well,but I hear no one talking about other forms of life bieng eaten.What is it,we only are allowed to respect life forms w/ a brain? We ar still part of the natural order living in a very different society. We have to eat,we need protien,branch chain amino acids,Iron and other important things found in meat. I agree we could eat LESS meat and tru to do that in my life.How do you propose feeding all the new children the world gives birth to every day. I agree better methods,healthier and more organic should be adopeted but have yet to come up w/ all the answers. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:44:58 PM | By your own argument and the need for survival it would be ok then to respectfully kill off meat eating folk. After all the "laws of nature are not sad...we humans are to detached from them so they seem foreign" Some of the greatest athletes are vegan and they seem to do ok. I would say if you didn't do well on a vegan or vegetarian diet you simply didn't know what you were doing. After all white bread and jam is vegan but that wouldn't promote good health any more then a diet of macaroni and cheese with wieners would for a non vegan.
You simply don't know what you are talking about and are completely ignorant (not meant in a mean way) to the full issue. I understand that if someone was judging me for what i ate i'd take offense as i used to as a meat eater. However if you want to know the truth its there and not only from vegan propaganda sources. We do not live in a world that is eat or be eaten any more. We do not have to fight for our food or our survival. However because of meat consumption we soon will have to fight for our survival, and let me tell you the meat eaters will be the first to starve. And as you are eating each other your numbers will dwindle. Eating meat at the rate people are at the present time simply isn't sustainable and is destroying the world and the thing about population is that it grows and they need to eat too. If you think its about personal choice you simply aren't paying attention, there will be no meat left for you to eat.
chew on that for a while
crazylilting | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 1:47:14 PM | | I agree that the methods used today w/ the hormones and non-organic methods and the cruelty as well,but I hear no one talking about other forms of life bieng eaten.What is it,we only are allowed to respect life forms w/ a brain? We ar still part of the natural order living in a very different society. We have to eat,we need protien,branch chain amino acids,Iron and other important things found in meat. I agree we could eat LESS meat and tru to do that in my life.How do you propose feeding all the new children the world gives birth to every day. I agree better methods,healthier and more organic should be adopeted but have yet to come up w/ all the answers.Until the almighty dollar stops becoming the main goal of everyone,methods to grow larger plants,meat,plus a longer shelf life of all organic matter consumed is a goal of the "industry".Have you seen the price of organics and range fed meat....If you can find it? Eating isn't the only problem,capitalism must assume some responsibility as well! | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 2:00:08 PM | At that point I'll be long dead for one and also if that became the case I would simply adapt as generations before me have.You still don't answer my question; Is it a moral issue on taking life that bothers you?if so why is it o.k. to grow,harvest and kill plants? They are indeed living and deserve respect.I'll eat whatever i have to in order to survive,you can believe that! So don't worry about me starving girl. Like i said,i've cut my meet consumption BECAUSE I know we live in a culture that likes to supersize it and it's not necessary to live and promotes bad health. I know we don't live in a hunter/gatherer society anymore but we still "gotta eat"!
As far as poor knowledge of vegan principles,you have no idea of what i tried,I was under the eye of people who knew what they were doing,it simply didn't work for me! I had to test it because I felt the moral obligation to do so. I lost a lot of weight and couldn't maintain proper body chemistry to be healthy.That is how I came to conclusion.If you look you'll find SOME people who veganism doesn't work for,I'm one of them. So don't call me ignorant,see me as different.I'm not much different from you...I'm not into bieng cruel,I respect life as much as you do,however I have a right and responsibility to be healthy! Your ONE SIZE FITS ALL analogies do not work for everyone. | |
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| Why do people eat meat?
Posted: 8/15/2007 5:47:54 PM | I raise and kill my own meat... I do not hunt for sport, but for healthy food without growth hormones and additives. I fish for my meals. I most certainly earn my protein. I respect all life, and am determined to make do for myself in my own family, doing what is best on all counts for us, and my ideals.
Try doing my job on a vegan diet when you cannot eat soy. Come on, give it a try - carry 60 lb sacks of portland cement on your back up scaffold steps every day while eating vegan and being soy intolerant.
I have my principles of healthy living, and they all include my making food for myself and my family, from herbs and veggies, to meats and dairy. Yup, you read that right, I make my own dairy sometimes too. And maple syrup for sugars, and bake my own breads etc. etc. I live off grid, make my own electricity via air, earth and sun. I and my husband slaughter our animals ourselves, at least the small ones, and send off to a private slaughterhouse for the rest.
Plants are living too. Studies have been shown to prove that plants respond to outside stimuli like music, and being talked to. That is somewhat indicative of awareness, if not of intelligence.
If you wish to push your ideals on me about vegan living, then allow me to push my ideals on you about no unnatural pollution whatsoever. I'll take methane from animal manure in my air any day over the pollutants from industry.... but that is the world we created, and those are necessary for our type of life we have now for ourselves.
Except I am not pushing my beliefs as the only true way, and all other ways are those of ignorance... it is simply not true for all, but true for me only.
The same is true of any idealism, including vegan lifestyle. | |
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